In September I flew home to Colorado to take part in a family tradition - heading to Estes Park to hear the elk bugle while eating pumpkin pie. The two go hand in hand. Well at least sort of. Sure, you can have pumpkin pie without hearing elk bugle. But in our household you certainly cannot hear the elk bugle without pumpkin pie.
The time in Estes Park was good old fashioned family fun. We camped, we ate chili by the fire, we hiked, we listened to bluegrass music and drank beers. And we met new friends. In fact, the running joke of the trip was that on that trip I met the couple that will be my new best friends someday when we move back to Colorado someday - my sister Claire's friend and coworker Carissa and her husband Dave. Claire was so cute and excited when she described how well she thinks Dave and my husband Sam will get along. Dave is a software developer; Sam is a software developer. Dave has a beard; Sam has a beard. And throughout the weekend we found more uncanny similarities. Dave likes to buy shirts from shirt.woot.com; Sam likes to buy shirts from shirt.woot.com. Dave was raised vegetarian and hated it; Sam was raised vegetarian and hated it. The list kept growing and growing, making the joke of new BFFS even more hilarious. I wished Sam had been on the trip to meet our new BFFs too.
The elk bugled all night long (they don't eat or sleep during the rut, those crazy bulls!), we enjoyed pumpkin pie and the crisp mountain air, and I was able to see leaves changing and fall approaching in a way that doesn't happen in my South Texas home. And I got to take part in a family tradition for the first time. It was a lovely trip.
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| When I said the trip was about pie, I wasn't kidding. |
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| Claire smiles with pie. |
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| He/she who takes the biggest bite wins. |
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| Chili in front of a roaring fire. |
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| Watching those elk bugle in the distance. |
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| Hiking in the golden aspen leaves. |
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| The trail with the aspen canopy. |
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| Relaxing in front of the fire. |
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